Workers at Grissini’s Restaurant ‘won’ $949M Powerball — for 20 minutes

THIS is the excruciating moment staff at a restaurant jumped for joy and celebrated, thinking they had won the Powerball jackpot. They were wrong.

WORKERS at a New Jersey restaurant jumped for joy when they thought they’d hit the Powerball jackpot, scoring Saturday’s US$949 million prize.

But the celebration at Grissini’s Restaurant in Englewood Cliffs came to an abrupt end when employees realised they’d mistakenly compared Wednesday’s winning numbers to their Saturday ticket.

“It was like getting punched in the stomach,” said Charles Poveromo, 55, who’s worked as a bartender at the restaurant for 13 years.

Mr Poveromo said 42 employees pooled their money together and bought US$210 worth of tickets.

On Saturday, his friend texted him the latest Powerball numbers — but failed to realise the website hadn’t been updated yet, and it was still showing Wednesday’s winning combination, he said.

“I picked up my phone and start calling out the numbers to everyone here,” Mr Poveromo said.

“All the numbers matched our tickets. Then pandemonium hit. There was just so much joy, and I can’t put into words the feelings of euphoria that we all felt.”

A video posted on YouTube captured the brief moment of bliss, showing staffers hooting and hollerin’ for joy, believing they’d become instant millionaires.

A dishwasher even took his apron off, yelling out, “I’m outta here! I quit!” general manger Mike Devincenzi, 47, told The Post.

Then Mr Poveromo called up his wife, who said they should double check the numbers. That’s when they realised the numbers were from the wrong day.

“When we found out it was like a balloon deflating,” Poveromo said.

The dishwasher who threatened to quit laughed and put his apron back on, saying “Back to work,” Mr Devincenzi added.

In a Facebook post, the eatery posted a picture of their Saturday ticket with Wednesday’s winning numbers: 2, 11, 47, 62, 63, and 17. No one won the Wednesday drawing, which had a US$528 million prize.

Here is the Ticket- a perfect match to Wednesday January 9th!

Posted by Grissini Ristorante on Tuesday, January 12, 2016

But Mr Poveromo still relishes his brief taste of victory.

“For 20 minutes it was real,” he said. “It’s a shame we didn’t win, but I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.”

And despite the crushing mix-up, they’re still playing this week’s lottery, hoping to take home the US$1.5 billion jackpot on Wednesday, he said.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.